Belarus (bbabo.net), - By order of the Latvian authorities, with the help of heavy equipment, part of the memorial plates on the Friendship Mound monument, located on the border of Russia, Belarus and Latvia, was dismantled. The part of the memorial that was on Latvian territory was destroyed.
The Mound of Friendship is a monument to the heroism and courage of Russian, Belarusian and Latvian partisans who fought together against the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War. It is located on the border of three states and is an artificially created hill. The land that was used to create the mound was taken from the places of burial or death of soldiers and partisans of the Red Army. Steps built of stone lead to the highest point of the hill, which have become a continuation of the alleys from three sides. A maple alley leads up from the Russian side, a linden alley from the Latvian side, and a birch alley from the Belarusian side. On the plates in three languages were engraved the texts of appeals of the partisans of the Great Patriotic War to their descendants with a request to preserve peace and friendship between peoples. The symbol of the memorial is the Oak of Friendship, towering on top of the hill. In recent years, in the summer, meetings of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, who came from Russia, Latvia and Belarus, have been held annually on the Mound of Friendship.
Vice speaker of the Pskov Regional Assembly Armen Mnatsakanyan, who is also the head of the United Russia regional party project Historical Memory, said: “Outrageous. On the "Mound of Friendship" memorial plates were torn out using heavy equipment. Based on the “respectful” way in which the Baltic countries have recently treated the period of the Great Patriotic War, it remains to be stated with bitterness: this is another struggle with monuments, with historical memory and historical truth. This memorial complex was erected in 1959 at the junction of three republics - Russia, Belarus and Latvia, as a symbol of the heroic struggle of Russian, Belarusian and Latvian partisans. During the Great Patriotic War, partisans stood shoulder in these places, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought against a common enemy - Nazism. In the current reality, the Latvian side decided to fight the memory…”
Note that the slabs torn from the Latvian side and the twisted concrete steps were simply buried.
“I remember when I was still studying at the Zilupe school, my class and I rode bicycles to the“ Friendship Mound ... “Yesterday, Latvia demolished and buried the slabs and steps on the Friendship Mound, which is located at the junction of the borders with Russia and Belarus. The Mound of Friendship was erected on July 3, 1959 in memory of the cooperation of Russian, Belarusian and Latvian partisan detachments during the Great Patriotic War. On the plates in three languages were engraved the texts of appeals of the partisans of the Great Patriotic War to their descendants with a request to preserve peace and friendship between peoples. But the ruling Latvians did not save friendship, they only sow hatred among the peoples of Latvia. There are no more warm feelings for this state,” notes Tatyana Andriets, a student from Latvia, who recently moved to St. Petersburg.
“What are you doing, barbarians? And we don’t need friendship, and we don’t want peace ... ”, the Latvian opposition journalist Alla Berezovskaya is indignant.
We add that, according to the Pskov Information Agency, it is planned to create a new “Friendship Mound” on the territory of the Sebezhsky district to replace the one destroyed by the Latvian authorities. Vladimir Bumakov, member of the Russian Geographical Society, head of the Fortified Area project, said: “The Mound of Friendship is a purely Sebezh story. In the sense that it was here, at the junction of three borders, and should be poured here. Only a new mound of friendship should be on our territory.
According to Bumakov, the Latvians will not be invited to participate in the construction of the new Friendship Mound. “They have already done everything they could,” he said.
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